Here, we explore seven new-build perks that are waiting for you.
We all love visiting a showhome. From cosy bedrooms to open kitchens, it’s hard not to picture ourselves relaxing in these pristine homes. But not everything in the showhome may be to your taste. Maybe you would prefer carpet to hard flooring in the hallway? Or even a different set of cupboard doors in the utility room? If you love to leave your mark on your home, new build homes are the perfect blank canvas.
Purchasers actually have a lot of influence on the property’s finishing touches, so you can customise your ideal home. For example, you can choose your own flooring, kitchen units, bathroom tiling*. Outdoors, you can even opt for a garden pod or a landscaping package as seen in our Options and Upgrades brochure. So, you can move into your home and focus on settling in rather than any DIY work that older properties may need.
At St. Modwen Homes, we take customisation to the next level with our new product, ‘The Starting Block’. Customers now have more choice over the entire layout of their home, including the number of rooms, by buying the shell of a house that doesn’t contain any internals. What you do with the house is then up to you. You’ll work with a dedicated architect and your own contractors to design and build your home to fit your tastes and needs. Perhaps you need a home office instead of an extra bedroom? Or maybe you’d like to create an inverted home, with your living spaces and kitchen located on the first floor? As long as you comply to building regulations, you can truly create the home of your dreams.
It doesn’t take a lot of research to find out that there are more incentives and offers for you to take advantage of when buying a new-build home over an older house. For example, if you’re key worker, we can assist you on your homebuying journey with our Key Worker Offer. Each key worker offer is tailor-made to suit your individual preferences which makes it an incredibly versatile incentive. Whether you’re looking for a contribution towards home enhancements such as flooring, or you would prefer support with legal fees, we can help.
Meanwhile, first-time buyers can benefit from the government-backed Help To Buy: Equity Loan which can be used exclusively on new-build homes. This means you may be more likely to afford a new-build home and you’ll be able to purchase sooner than you originally planned, as you’ll only need a 5% deposit.
Knowing whether your home is freehold or leasehold is important. On a leasehold, while you own the property, you do not own the land that it is built on. That land is owned by the freeholder. A leasehold is granted to property owners for a number of years before the price of the lease is renegotiated.
Fortunately, there’s not a lot to worry about when you’re buying a new build property as new-build homes are often freehold. In 2019, the government announced that all new houses were to be sold on a freehold basis. This means that when you buy a new St. Modwen house, you’ll also own the land it stands on**.
There’s something thrilling about moving into a home that no one has lived in before. Plus, when everything is spick-and-span new, you shouldn’t expect to splash out on any fix-me-ups anytime soon after moving in. You could save thousands compared to fixing up an older home.
Meanwhile, some features of a new-build home make it the best green choice for living. At St. Modwen Homes, our properties are twice as airtight as required by building regulations. They are also always well insulated and designed to maximise daylighting and solar gains due to the larger windows and high ceilings.
According to Which, if you own a new home, you can benefit from a £20 annual saving on lighting, a £37 saving on hot-water costs, and a £455 reduction on heating costs – that’s a total of more than £500 a year1.
For those looking to be more sustainable, St. Modwen Homes now offers electric vehicle charging points. With more electric vehicles joining the road, there’s no better time to future-proof your home. You can also opt for an innovative Waste Water Heat Recovery unit, where your shower water can help heat the house. Up to 70% of heat energy is recovered from waste-water when showering, allowing you to save money whilst reducing your carbon footprint – it’s a win-win.
One of the main benefits to a newly built St. Modwen home is that it will follow all the latest safety and security regulations. On the other hand, older homes have to have additional maintenance work done to get them up to standard.
If you’d like your home to benefit from the latest security products and gadgets, you can easily do this by choosing which ones you’d like from our Options and Upgrades brochure. That means anything you choose will be installed and ready to use for when you move in. Whether you’re looking for outdoor security cameras or a smart thermostat, we have a range of options for you to choose from.
At St. Modwen Homes, our homes are often in high demand, and securing the plot of your choice means you may not want to spend time hanging around for a buyer for your current property. Luckily, current homeowners can part-exchange their property for a new St. Modwen home.
How does it work? Part Exchange allows customers looking to buy a new home at one of our developments to sell their existing home to us rather than wait for a buyer. We will obtain three independent valuations from trusted estate agents and then agree a fair price with you. Not only is all the hassle taken out of selling your own home, but there are also no estate agent fees to pay and no risk of broken chains.
We know that buying a new house can be eventful (and even stressful) at times. It’s a big decision. But there are many ways that buying a new-build home can be enjoyable, and you should be able to look back at this time with good memories.
Part of buying a new-build home is the convenience. While you can help shape your own living space, you’re also relieving the burden of onward chains, future maintenance, and other financial pressures. If you need to be told one thing about buying a new-build home, it’s that it can be an enjoyable process.
1 https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/08/could-you-save-500-a-year-by-buying-a-new-build-home/
*All products in our Options and Upgrades brochure are subject to plot specifics and build stage.
**All of our homes are freehold, however, this does not include apartments.
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